Catcher in the Rye Chapter 24

1. Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 24

2. •Feeling dizzy, Holden takes a taxi to Mr.
Antolini’s house.
•I would have walked down to their house,
because I didn't want to spend any of
Phoebe's Christmas dough that I didn't
have to, but I felt funny when I got outside.
Sort of dizzy. So I took a cab. I didn't want
to, but I did. I had a helluva time even
finding a cab.

3. •Mr. Antolini asks Holden what is troubling
him and why he has failed again. Holden
begins an explanation, hoping that Mr.
Antolini will understand. Antolini, however,
is full of advice and does not give the
compassion and acceptance Holden
seeks and needs. Holden grows tired of
the advice and wants the conversation to
end.

4. •When he yawns, Mr. Antolini stops talking
and helps Holden make his bed. The
exhausted boy drops off to sleep almost
immediately. He wakes in the night to find
Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead.

5. •I woke up all of a sudden. I don't know
what time it was or anything, but I woke
up. I felt something on my head, some
guy's hand. Boy, it really scared hell out of
me.

6. •What it was, it was Mr. Antolini's hand.
What he was doing was, he was sitting on
the floor right next to the couch, in the
dark and all, and he was sort of petting me
or patting me on the goddam head. Boy,
I'll bet I jumped about a thousand feet.

7. •Holden interprets the gesture as
something perverse. He panics and
decides to leave immediately, telling Mr.
Antolini that he has forgotten to collect his
suitcases from the locker at Grand Central
Station.

8. •"I have to go, anyway," I said--boy, was I
nervous! I started putting on my damn
pants in the dark. I could hardly get them
on I was so damn nervous. I know more
damn perverts, at schools and all, than
anybody you ever met, and they're always
being perverty when I'm around.

9. •"You have to go where?" Mr. Antolini said. He
was trying to act very goddam casual and cool
and all, but he wasn't any too goddam cool.
Take my word.
• "I left my bags and all at the station. I
think maybe I'd better go down and get them. I
have all my stuff in them."
•"You grab your bags and scoot right on back
here again. I'll leave the door unlatched."

10. •"Thanks a lot," I said. "G'by!" The elevator
was finally there. I got in and went down.
Boy, I was shaking like a madman. I was
sweating, too. When something perverty
like that happens, I start sweating like a
bastard. That kind of stuff's happened to
me about twenty times since I was a kid. I
can't stand it.